The Pistons threw away what was once a 15-point lead in the second quarter to eventually lose Game 5 to the Cavaliers. Cade Cunningham’s 39-point performance went to waste as a late flourish from James Harden, Donovan Mitchell, and Max Strus left the Pistons with no ability to respond.
With less than three minutes left in regulation, the Pistons were up by nine points, and yet they managed to send the game into overtime and eventually lost 113-117, and are now trailing 2-3 in the second-round series.
Cade Cunningham and Jalen Duren both spoke to the media after the game and addressed the Pistons’ offensive struggles that allowed the Cavaliers to bounce back in the game and steal a road win down the stretch.
“Yeah. It’s about exploiting whatever they’re doing that’s giving us advantages. The ball’s in my hand. I got to do, you know, a good job of getting the ball to the open man, allowing the rest of the team to play four-on-three situations and stuff,” said Cunningham.
“I mean, that’s good offense for us. We’ve got people who can, you know, finish plays and make plays out of those types of situations. I just haven’t done a good enough job drawing the two and then, you know, getting the ball to guys cleanly where they can go execute in those situations.”
Cunningham finished the game with 39 points, seven rebounds, and nine assists while shooting 13-27 from the field (48.1 FG%) and 6-10 from behind the three-point line (60.0 3P%). Despite such a solid performance, Cunningham was not happy with himself as he couldn’t generate better looks for his teammates.
One of the biggest concerns in this series for the Pistons is the performance of their second All-Star, Jalen Duren. Duren also addressed the media after yet another invisible performance on offense tonight, after missing out on the entire fourth quarter and overtime as he got benched.
“Absolutely, I feel like I could be better in all aspects of the game. Continue to grind and continue to grow,” said Duren, who, after Game 4, claimed he had no excuses for such a rough stretch on offense.
“My brothers handled it. Bball [Paul Reed] came in ready to go,” said Duren on whether he had any frustrations about being benched down the crucial stretch of the game.
Paul Reed replaced Duren in the fourth quarter and in overtime as Duren struggled to get good looks inside the paint tonight. The All-Star finished the game with nine points, five rebounds, and four assists while going 3-5 from the field (60.0 FG%).
What Does This Mean For The Pistons?
This is not the first time that the Pistons have faced adversity in these playoffs. They came back from a 3-1 deficit to win Game 7 in the first round against the Magic. Cade Cunningham believes that just like in the first round, the Pistons are confident that they can bounce back from this challenging position.
“Yeah, I mean, tonight was tough. Tough loss. Obviously, we wanted to protect our home court. We failed to do that,” said Cunningham initially.
“You know, being up 3-2 is an advantage for them. But it’s the first of four wins, though. We know that we’ve had sour backs against the wall before.
“And at the end of the day, I mean, if we can’t win a game on the road, how far are we really gonna get in the playoffs? How far are we gonna get in this league? So we’ve got to go win a game on the road. That’s what we’re gonna go do,” Cunningham concluded.
The Pistons are now headed on the road to Cleveland for Game 6, the day after tomorrow, May 15th. It will be interesting to see if the Pistons can regain their home-court advantage on Friday night.
